World Press Freedom Day

14 results arranged by date

CPJ, 11 organizations sign Santiago +30 Declaration ahead of World Press Freedom Day

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 11 press freedom and journalistic organizations in adopting the Santiago +30 Declaration ahead of this year’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations in Santiago, Chile, from May 2 to 4. The statement advocated for concerted efforts among governments, intergovernmental organizations, technology companies, and the journalism community to promote freedom of…

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CPJ rings opening bell at Nasdaq to mark 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day

New York, May 3, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists was joined on Wednesday by prominent journalists and press freedom advocates to ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, recognizing 30 years of World Press Freedom Day. The bell ringing ceremony was hosted by Brian Buckley, senior vice president and chief marketing…

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Mahoney: UN can help journalists beyond World Press Freedom Day

New York, May 1, 2023–Evan Gershkovich and Jimmy Lai are about to spend World Press Freedom Day behind bars. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal Moscow correspondent, and Lai, a pro-democracy Hong Kong media magnate, are among record numbers of journalists in prison as the United Nations marks the 30th anniversary of its special day for…

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after their meetings at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 7, 2017. (AP/Alex Brandon)

With press freedom under attack worldwide, US is setting wrong example

For decades if not longer, repressive leaders around the world have defended restrictions on freedom of the press by citing examples of Western governments failing to live by their own professed standards.

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A hologram of protesters is projected outside parliament in Madrid on April 10 in opposition to Spain's restrictive 'gag law,' which bans rallies near government buildings and threatens fines for photographing police. (Reuters/Susana Vera)

Why Spain’s new gag law is threat to free flow of information

On July 1 a public security law is due to come into force in Spain amid an increasingly vocal chorus of concern among the media and press freedom groups. The bill–dubbed the “ley mordaza,” or “gag law,” by opposition groups–would define protests in front of parliament and other government buildings as a “disturbance of public…

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CPJ

On World Press Freedom Day and journalists’ safety

Last week, I met a Cameroonian journalist who worked in the Congo until he fled following a series of threats and an attack on his home by armed men who assaulted his sister. Elie Smith, a TV host who documented alleged abuses by police and was outspoken in his criticism of the government, said he…

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UNESCO awards Ahmet Şık annual press freedom prize

New York, April 11, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists congratulates Turkish investigative journalist and book author Ahmet Şık on being awarded UNESCO’s prestigious Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The annual prize, named after slain Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza, honors a journalist or organization that “has made an outstanding contribution to the defense of…

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Liberian newspapers protest threatening remarks by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's security chief. (Wade Williams/FrontPage Africa)

Liberian press boycotts Sirleaf over aide’s comments

Most governments, even repressive ones, at least give lip service to supporting freedom of the press–especially on World Press Freedom Day, May 3. But in Liberia this month, Othello Daniel Warrick, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s chief security aide, shocked local journalists by threatening them and calling them “terrorists” at a public event to mark the…

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Nigeria’s impunity ranking: The facts don’t lie

Nigeria’s press freedom record is on the decline. For the first time since 2008, when CPJ began publishing its annual Impunity Index, Nigeria has made the list of the “worst nations in the world for deadly, unpunished violence against the press.”

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CPJ calls on African Union to uphold press freedom

Dear Chairperson Zuma: We ask that you mark World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2013, by calling for the release of all journalists imprisoned in Africa and appealing for justice in the murders of journalists killed in the line of duty.

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